Britain’s up-and-coming Sledge Hockey team will be represented compete at the European Ice Sledge Hockey Championships in Sweden in February with the aim of gaining valuable experience as they seek qualification for the Winter Paralympic Games in 2014.
Sledge Hockey is a fast-paced and exhilarating Paralympic sport, adapted from the Olympic game of ice hockey. Players speed around the ice on specially-designed sledges and each team aims to score as many goals as possible to beat the opposition.
The team will include several members of GB Sledge Hockey’s by a development squad including players who have come through the British Sledge Hockey Associations relationship with the Battle Back programme.
Britain is currently ranked twelfth in the world in Ice Sledge Hockey and despite a disappointing performance at last year’s World Championships amongst players and staff there is a strong belief that the European Championships will signal be a valuable first step towards the start of a successful elite programme which will ensure qualification for the Sochi 2014 Winter Paralympic games.
G.B. Captain Mark Briggs said: “we are at the start of the Paralympic qualification cycle and the Europeans gives us the opportunity to provide top-quality I.P.C. international tournament experience to players on our G.B. fast track development programme. Gaining this level of experience will be crucial for our players as we look to build a team that will be successful and qualify for the 2014 Winter Paralympic Games.”
G.B. Head Coach, Andy Linton said, “we are viewing the Europeans as a learning experience and we will measure success not in terms of results but in terms of how the team and players performance. We have put together a strong development squad which is anchored by a more experienced group of players with who have represented GB at Paralympic and world championship level. It is really pleasing that a number of players have come through from the Ministry of Defence’s Battle Back project and the B.S.H.A. fast track programme as this demonstrates clearly that we are laying the right foundations to achieve our objectives.”
The full squad that will represent GB in the European Championships are:
1. Bryan Hackworth (Kingston Kestrels)
2. Callum Shakespeare (London Ravens)
3. Alex Brown (Battle Back Bison)
4. Gary Farmer (Nottingham Knights)
5. Karl Nicholson (Kingston Kestrels)
6. Lee Coupe (Battle Back Bison)
7. Mark Briggs (Nottingham Knights)
8. Martin Austin (Nottingham Knights)
9. Martyn Compton (Battle Back Bison)
10. Matt Clarkson (Kingston Kestrels)
11. Matt Coleman (Peterborough Phantoms)
12. Matt Lloyd (Kingston Kestrels)
13. Rob Gaze (Nottingham Knights)
14. Simon Berry (Kingston Kestrels)
15. Steve Brown (Battle Back Bison)
A total of 10 countries have confirmed their participation at the 2011 International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Ice Sledge Hockey European Championships in Solleftea, Sweden.
Teams competing from 12-20 February 2011 will include: Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia and Sweden.
Ice Sledge Hockey is the version of traditional ice hockey for athletes with a lower limb disability. The size of the rink and goals, the markings on the ice, all the rules and the penalties inflicted on the players when a foul is made are identical to ice hockey.
The main difference is the athletes’ technical equipment. They use specially designed sledges fitted with two blades like those of ice skates to propel themselves across the ice and have two playing sticks, which have a double function: they are used to push like a ski-pole in cross-country skiing and to control and shoot the puck.
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